Joseph i



J. I. DONAHU E. MUGILAGI; AFER.

N'0".276,164. Patented Apr:24,1883.-

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH I. DONAHUE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

MUClLAGE-WAFER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 276,164, dated April 24, 1883.

Application filed April 14, [882. (No model.)

To all whom t't may concern Be it known that I, JOSEPH I. DONAHUE, of the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Mucilage-Wafers; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawing annexed to and forming part of the same, furnishes a full and clear description thereof, sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and operate the same.

The object of my invention is to furnish a cheap, neat, and convenient substitute for the ordinary method of causing papers to adhere together-viz, the paste-brush or the more troublesome application of sealing-wax. The application of paste or mueilage as it is now almost universally used in a liquid form diluted with water and applied with a brush has many objections. A much larger quantity than is necessary is almost always used when it is put on with a brush, and there are many occasions when it is' almost impossible to apply the mucila-ge to a small article without smearing the fingers and the table or other surface on which the artieleis laid during the operation. The water also which is contained in the liquid preparation contracts or shrivels the surface of the paper, if it covers any considerable space, and makes the surface uneven. The old-fashioned litharge wafers were thick, easily broken, required a long time for the water to moisten them suffieient to stick, and were even then of doubtful tenacity.

My invention secures the desirable features of the former methods of adhesion, while dispensing with the objectionable matters aforesaid.

small wafers of any desired shape, each of which carries a quantity of m ucilage not only upon its surfaces, but also in reserve within the apertures or perforations, which latter, when the wafer is moistened for use, can be forced out by pressure to increase the adhesive material.

These wafers are neat and always ready for use by simply moistening them as one would a postage-stamp.

Having thus described my improved mucilage-wafer, I do not claim, broadly, a wafer of paper or cloth covered with adhesive material on both sides; but

What I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is As a new article of manufacture, a wafer composed of a perforated fibrous fabric covered on both sides with adhesive material and having the perforations filled therewith, substantially as and for the purposes describedz JOS. I. DONAHUE.

Witnesses GEO. W. PINGKNEY, H. M. WHIIEWAY. 

